


The Dead Stay Buried

by within_a_dream



Category: Like Real People Do - Hozier (Song)
Genre: Comes Back Wrong, F/F, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 21:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5021470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's been something wrong with Chloe for as long as she can remember, something dark gnawing at the edges of her memories. And Nika has always been there to kiss the darkness away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dead Stay Buried

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lostinthefire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthefire/gifts).



> Thanks to Brigdh for the beta!

Chloe woke up shivering. Nika was there, like always, to hold her through the tremors.

“The dream again?”

She nodded. “The ground was so cold. I was trapped in the dark, and it was _so cold_. Then the light broke through, and you were above me.”

“And I warmed you up,” Nika whispered, pressing her lips to the back of Chloe’s neck. “And I took you home, and I fell in love.” Her hands came to rest on Chloe’s hips, and it was easier to relax. “You don’t need to think about before.”

Chloe couldn’t help but think about before. Nika didn’t like it (she didn’t like seeing Chloe unhappy), but how could you forget your death? She felt sometimes that part of her was still buried in that field that Nika had pulled her from. No matter how long she lay in the sun, she couldn’t get warm, and sometimes she clung close to Nika at night just to remember what it felt like to have blood thrumming through her veins. She remembered bitter dirt filling her mouth, her nose, her eyes, and no matter how many breaths she drew in, she could still feel the weight of the earth pressing down on her chest.

They were in love, Chloe and Nika. They knew each other like the backs of their hands. They didn’t know each other’s secrets, but they knew how to avoid them. It was like stepping around the rotted section of the attic, so your foot didn’t go plunging through the floor. That was what love meant: tiptoeing around your lover’s rotted parts until she was ready to tear them out.

Reading Nika was difficult. She didn’t smile any differently when she was angry, or shy away from Chloe’s hands. The only sign she gave was a nearly imperceptible hardness of the eyes. Chloe could recognize it now, and she knew what to avoid to keep Nika’s eyes soft. Some things were better left buried.

The nightmare woke her again. This time, Nika was gone. _For business_ , she’d said before she left, loading a leather briefcase and a few coolers into the car. Nika didn’t travel for work often (she hated to leave Chloe alone), but sometimes it was necessary.

The bed was empty and cold without Nika in it, and no matter how hard Chloe tried, she couldn’t feel her heartbeat. She curled up under the blankets and tried to forget the feeling of her lungs rotting away inside of her. She was dead, and meant for the dirt, and without Nika to pull her back, Chloe feared she would crumble away to dust.

To keep from going crazy, she wandered up to the attic. It was quiet there, and she felt at home among the boxes of moth-eaten winter coats, mildewed books, and faded photographs. Sometimes, when she sat alone among other people’s memories, she could almost feel her own creeping back in. They never quite came out into the open, but they came so close to leaving the fog of her mind that she could taste them. Right there, just beyond her reach, was a room with pink walls, a small white dog—the flash of a knife, the rush of blood.

Then she was back in the ground, dirt dusting her face and stinging her eyes. But through the fog of brown, she could make out the person standing above her. It was a familiar face, even speckled with blood and tense with the strain of shoveling, and it took a moment for Chloe to reconcile the face that had kissed her and comforted her and warmed her after nightmares with the bloody knife in this not-Nika’s hand.

“Don’t worry, beautiful,” Nika said, throwing another shovelful of dirt into the hole where Chloe lay. “It will all be over soon.” Then the world went dark, and the dirt filled her mouth, and she was trapped in silence until the shovel broke through the ground and Nika pulled her into the light.

She was still curled in the attic’s corner when Nika came back.

“Oh, darling, did you go digging again?” She crouched down and put a hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “I’ve told you, it’s better to leave those things buried.”

Chloe hit Nika’s hand away. “I know what you did!”

Nika didn’t seem surprised by Chloe’s outburst. She gripped Chloe’s wrists tight with one hand, and with the other, covered her mouth with a sickly-sweet rag, a gesture that felt infuriatingly familiar. “You’ll feel better once you get some sleep. Shh, don’t struggle, I’ve got you.” As black began to crowd the edges of her vision, Chloe remembered another day in the attic, much like this one--or maybe two days? Three? Nika pulling her into sleep, wiping the memories from her mind, again and again and again.

Despite the quilts she was wrapped in, Chloe was freezing when she woke up. Nika moved from the doorway to embrace her, warm arms taking away the chill.

“The nightmare again?”

Chloe nodded. “I missed you, while you were gone.”

Nika kissed her. “I made breakfast.”

Chloe found herself glancing up the attic stairs on the way to the kitchen, though what drew her eye, she couldn’t say. Nika noticed her looking.

“The floor fell through while I was gone. I thought it was safer to board the whole thing up.”

“That was thoughtful!” Chloe was lucky to have a woman who cared so much about her. What would she do without Nika to make her pancakes and keep her from falling through the attic floor, and hug her after her nightmares?

She was so lucky, so very lucky. How could she live without her Nika?


End file.
